Thank God we live in the USA and in a different time when anyone can land a Cesna airplane in front of the Capitol building without fear of being shot down while attempting to do so.

Seriously, doesn't it seem like you could change the whole story and make it work for 2012 America? 25 years after the end of the Cold War, the US is run a lot more like Communist Russia than I think anyone would have predicted.

I never felt THAT invincible. Then again, he stabbed a coworker, so maybe it was Der Krazy more than anything....

I'm going with crazy. Take a look at his route:

He flew long over water legs alone in a single engine plane with only 50 hours of flying experience. Keflavik to Bergen in over 800 nautical miles, and other than the Faroes, there ain't much in between.

An incredible breach of Russian security, and we learn that hundreds lost their jobs because of this spectacular failure. Fast forward to 9/11 and remind me again how many US officials in the intelligence and military communities lost their jobs over 9/11?

kryhmeYou've just been released from Russian prison after a stunt that almost cost you your life. How are you going to celebrate?

I'm going to stab a guy in a hospital.

That actually was: "I'm going to ram a knife two times into a nursing student's stomach because she refuses to kiss me and calls me an attention whore."

/the girl might only have survived because she managed to drag herself from the staff changing room where the attack happened to a unit where a team had just gotten ready and was standing buy for a surgery.

LoneDoggie:Might have been about the time we started realizing that the Soviet military infrastructure was a bit... Rusty?

It wasn't all that rusty, actually: They spotted him numerous times, but for a number of reasons didn't do anything about it. One major reason is that a small single engine plane like that wasn't perceived to be a military threat.

Another possible reason, one not talked much about, is that had they shot him down, it would have been a public relations nightmare: They had shot down two Korean Airlines passenger jets in the 10 years previous, one where they killed everyone on board and the other where they killed 2 people. It would have just made them look more like the "Evil Empire" that Ronald Reagan said they were.

The battle station Soviet Union is heavily shielded and carries a firepower greater than half the star fleet. Its defenses are designed around a direct, large-scale assault. A small one-man fighter Cessna should be able to penetrate the outer defense.

He was just gonna hide out until the first strike blew over...then the little bugger would carry a 25-megaton bomb right down the middle of Main Street, Moscow. Like the mailman bringing bad news. We called it "Operation Got-You-Last".

25 years ago today, a 19 year old German boy bypassed all Soviet defenses to land a Cessna in Red Square, making it the most successful invasion of Russia in German history since the Mongols in the 13th century